A biased look at psychology in the world

Web/Tech

November 10, 2016

Safety plans have been suggested as an intervention for people at risk of suicide. Given the impulsive character of suicidal ideation, a safety plan in the format of a mobile phone application is likely to be more available and useful than traditional paper versions. The study recently published in the journal Crisis describes MYPLAN, a mobile phone application designed to support people at risk of suicide by letting them create a safety plan. MYPLAN was developed in collaboration with clinical psychiatric staff at Danish suicide preventive clinics. The mobile application lets the user create an individualized safety plan by filling in templates with strategies, actions, and direct links to contact persons. MYPLAN was developed in 2013 and is freely available in Denmark and Norway. It is designed for iPhone and Android platforms. As of December 2015, the application has been downloaded almost 8,000 times. Users at risk of suicide as well as clinical staff have provided positive feedback on the mobile application. Support via mobile phone applications might be particularly useful for younger age groups at risk of suicide as well as in areas or countries where support options are lacking. Yet, it is important to examine the effectiveness of this type of intervention.

August 28, 2016

"I was five years old when it happened," says one rape victim. Another describes how she was tortured at home and not allowed to leave the house for any reason. Though their faces are concealed by digital "masks", the pain and humiliation these women experienced comes through clearly enough.

While few of India's rape victims are willing to speak out publicly due to the stigma involved as well as laws banning public naming of victims, a new feature available through Snapchat is providing them with a way of telling their stories without being identified. Though the face-masking filter that allows users to conceal their faces behind a variety of bizarre masks was originally intended as a goofy alternative to regular messaging, a Hindu journalist has recently started using the filters when interviewing victims of sexual assault. According to 27-year-old Yusuf Omar, a journalist and editor at the Hindustan Times, the filters have become a valuable tool for investigative journalism.

"Mobile journalism has given us access to places that we would never have had before and has allowed us to tell stories in a far more discrete and intimate manner," Omar said in a recent interview. "Nobody who has experienced that kind of horror wants to have a big boom mix and huge lights and a camera waving in their face. It has to be far more subtle." His Snapchat coverage of victim's stories has been reported by media outlets around the world. Not only do the filters allow the stories to be told, but the victims have become visible in a way that has never been possible for them previously.

"Broadcasters have been blurring out faces, using silhouettes, and I just feel like you lose so much information. Facial expressions are critical when trying to understand. For the first time, we got to see somebody whose identity was hidden, but eyes were visible. You could see the drop of the jaw, the expressions on her forehead. It's so much more intimate for a viewer trying to relate to the story."

While he hopes that Snapchat eventually provides the option for users to develop their own filters rather than relying on the ones provided, Omar reports that rape victims feel empowered by being able to conceal their identities. This has developed a bond of trust that makes them more confident in telling their stories. Also, through choosing their own filters and deciding for themselves how much of their faces to conceal, they assume the role of narrators rather than as victims being interviewed by a journalist.

"They flicked until they found a filter that they thought best covered their faces," said Omar. "That made them feel empowered – it made them feel part of narrative. They were telling their own story. Even more so in the way they directed their attention at that camera. This was a selfie; they were holding the phone. I didn't even press the record button, I walked away. This was them looking at themselves in the eye and telling the most horrific story they could possibly recount."

July 19, 2016

A new survey examining online behaviour following relationship breakups suggests that post-relationship abuse is far more common than you think. The survey, which is scheduled to be presented at the annual conference of the British Psychological Society's Division of Counselling Psychology in Brighton, U.K. this weekend, interviewed 1612 adults though an online survey. Of the thirty-three percent who reported experiencing a relationship breakup in the previous year (526 in total), thirty-seven percent reported experiencing digital abuse from their ex-partner.

The most common findings were:

48 per cent reported an ex sending or sharing an online message about them that was extremely nasty;

34 per cent reported an ex contacting their new partner or family and friends online for the purpose of distressing them;

28 per cent reported a ex threatening to post or sending an online message about them that was not true;

·26 per cent had their ex threaten to share online an something they did not want shared;

26 per cent had their ex use digital technology to track or stalk them

Overall, more men than women reported online harassment (40 percent vs 36 percent) but no real gender differences were found concerning specific forms of harassment. Also, age or education seemed to make no difference with respect to the kind of harassment received. "There is very little research into digital abuse among adults after relationship breakups, particularly into the breadth of experiences that this study includes," said lead researcher Lindy Morrison in an press release. "Our survey provides strong support for the necessity of further investigation into this issue."

Lindy Morrison is currently recruiting for the next phase in her research which involves interviewing people who have experienced online abuse to determine how the abuse has affected them.

May 26, 2016

Anonymity has been considered one of the constructs that differentiate traditional bullying from cyberbullying; however, few published studies have actually tested how and why anonymity influences cyberbullying behavior longitudinally. In a new study in the journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture, researchers examine whether aggressor-perceived anonymity predicts cyberbullying behavior and positive attitudes toward cyberbullying. Additionally, positive cyberbullying attitudes would mediate aggressor-perceived anonymity and cyberbullying behavior. The current study used a 4-wave longitudinal design over the course of one academic year on college-aged participants (N = 146 [at Wave 1]; average age = 19.21). Specifically, participants completed measures of anonymity, cyberbullying attitudes, and cyberbullying behavior 4 times approximately every 2 months. Results using path analysis showed (a) strong stability over time for the variables and (b) several mediated paths between Wave 1 anonymity and Waves 3 and 4 cyberbullying behaviors through Wave 2 cyberbullying attitudes. These results remained using both maximum likelihood estimation and bootstrapping techniques. Overall, the results showed that aggressor-perceived anonymity is an important risk factor for later cyberbullying behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

April 27, 2016

For young people contemplating suicide, the Internet can be a very dangerous place.

Despite numerous websites providing excellent advice about how to find help, there are far too many other sites that actually encourage users to kill themselves. Along with chat rooms and bulletin boards where suicidal ideas and death fantasies can be shared, cases of suicide "voyeurs" who encourage vulnerable people to kill themselves are hardly uncommon. There are also sites providing concrete advice on how to commit suicide including the sale of "suicide kits" as well as instructions on how to make suicides look like accidents. While many of these pro-suicide sites can also provide emotional support, the damage caused by the pro-suicide material vulnerable users come across cannot be underestimated.

One research study looking at young people aged ten to seventeen who are exposed to pro-suicide conversations or images are seven times more likely to have thoughts about killing themselves. Exposure to pro-suicide material can also have an adverse effect on mental health, especially for people experiencing depression. Critics argue that these pro-suicide sites can romanticize suicide and push young people on the edge into carrying out suicidal acts instead of finding professional help. While only a small percentage of hits in an average search for suicide-related material will be to these pro-suicide sites, they are still freely available to anyone motivated to finding them.

January 06, 2016

The Internet is everywhere these days. Or at least it seems to be. With over three billion current users (nearly half the world's population) and more likely to come online in the years to come, the prospect of universal Internet access doesn't seem that far away any more. For adolescents in particular, the rise of the modern Internet has transformed how they interact with friends, family, and strangers around the world.

Still, with all the advantages that the Internet can bring, there is also a dark side that many parents, teachers, and health professionals often find disturbing. Can adolescents develop mental health problems due to spending too much time online? There seem to be a glut of different clinical terms used to describe problem Internet behaviour these days. Whether it is called "Internet addiction disorder," "Internet addiction,"or "Internet compulsion," some adolescents find themselves unable to stay off the Internet for long and experience problems in real-life social and academic functioning as a result.

While Internet addiction lacks many of the physical symptoms linked to drug or alcohol addiction, adolescents can still develop a psychological dependence on online activities. When their access to the Internet is cut off for any reason, they can experience a form of withdrawal as well as being unable to function normally without regular online contact. Researchers have also linked compulsive Internet use to a range of mental health concerns including low self-esteem, loneliness, depression, social phobia, and even suicidal thoughts.

December 16, 2015

The rise in telecommunications and online file sharing has had a dramatic impact on how health professionals communicate with their patients. Though I'll be focusing on what mental health professionals are doing, this is really true for all health professionals in general. Along with email, treatment providers are relying more and more on text messaging, videoconferencing, online chatrooms, and other ways of interacting without any need for face to face interactions. There is even a surge of interest in online therapy with providers dealing with clients living in another city, or another country if necessary.

But how secure is all of this electronic exchange of information, especially if it involves confidential matters? Though ethical guidelines for mental health professionals (along with all other health professionals) call for proper security to avoid violating client privacy, how many treatment providers understand enough about this new technology to avoid problems? Some professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association (APA) have released comprehensive guidelines for their members though they are still a work in progress and will probably need updating as the technology changes. The Ontario Psychological Association (OPA) has just released Guidelines for Best Practices in Electronic Communication which is also useful even though they aren't binding for non-members.

November 03, 2015

Given the popularity of the Internet and the instant access provided by smartphones, tablets, and mini-notebook computers, most youths go online for information on the topics they consider important. According to one U.K. survey, seventy percent of young people between the age of nine and sixteen spend at least ninety minutes online daily. But what about young people who are feeling suicidal and go online for information?

Many suicide information organizations have set up websites providing support and information about suicide as well as where to go for help in the community. Young adults often value online groups where they can get help to cope with their problems. For young people who spend much of their time online, these kind of support services can be literally lifesaving.

But there are online hazards as well for young people thinking of killing themselves. Online groups can provide advice on suicide methods instead and there have been cases in which suicide voyeurs actually encourage suicidal people to kill themselves. Chat rooms and bulletin boards for people who self-harm can provide people on the edge with a sense of community that can make self-harm seem more feasible. The recent increase in self-harm, especially among adolescent girls may be linked to the contagion effect that can arise from these kind of interactions.

A new research study published in the journal Crisis takes a look at different online resources available for young people considering suicide and the kind of message they are sending. Using common search terms that young people might use to find information on suicide, self-harm, and depression, over three hundred websites that can be potentially accessed by young people seeking information were identified. According to researchers at the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University and the Department of Psychology at Bath, the results showed that, while 56.1 percent of sites provided advice on how to get help, an additional 15.8 percent of sites gave specific advice on how to commit suicide or self-harm. An additional 7 percent of these sites provided active encouragement, and 20.7 percent provided images of suicide. Some of the images were quite graphic including bleeding from wounds. Nearly a fifth of all sites (19 percent) provided forums where people could share stories about self-harm.

Among the search engines used, Bing was the most likely to link to sites providing advice self-harm sites or containing graphic images. Bing was also the most likely engine to link to sites encouraging self-harm (11.8 percent) while Google was the least likely (5.2 percent).

Based on these results, the researchers recommend that questions about Internet use be included when assessing young people at risk. Parents, teachers, and mental health professionals also need to be more vigilant about suicide issues and the kind of information that vulnerable adolescents and young adults might be getting online.

September 28, 2015

Can smartphone technology be used to provide better mental health care for people in crisis?

Part of the difficulty in dealing with people experiencing mental health problems is getting them the help they need when a new crisis develops. Even for people with chronic mental health problems, there can be long periods when their symptoms are under control, at least as far as living a normal life is concerned. Though there are often warning signs that can indicate potential problems developing, spotting these signs can be extremely difficult for mental health professionals who don't see their clients until after their condition has become severe enough for them to need professional help. By this point, treatment becomes much harder because of the delay involved. Also, people in clinics or hospitals are usually less comfortable than they would be in more familiar settings such as at home which can also make their condition worse.

But what if there were a way of detecting these warning signs earlier? If people in crisis can get help sooner then they could potentially avoid going into the kind of downward spiral that can make it so much harder to recover. And possibly prevent the need for expensive treatment in the first place.

August 18, 2015

With over 100 million Facebook users, India remains second only to the United States in total number of active accounts and is soon likely to take the lead due to the rising popularity of social media. Despite this surge in new users, Indian women on Facebook are routinely complaining about online harassment by "cyber-trolls" who appear to be acting with impunity despite Facebook's own stated policy against cyber-bullying.

According to Facebook's Community Standards page, their mission is to "keep users safe" by disabling accounts that post content making threats of physical harm or risk to public safety. Users seeing any content they deem offensive or abusive are urged to report it to Facebook. Their Standards page adds that "Not all disagreeable or disturbing content violates our Community Standards. For this reason, we offer you the ability to customize and control what you see by unfollowing, blocking, and hiding the posts, people, Pages, and applications you don’t want to see – and we encourage you to use these controls to better personalize your experience."

Even though these safeguards are supposed to be in place, misogynistic harassment of women who post openly on Facebook remains disturbingly common in India. This is especially true for lower-caste women who are frequently targeted by higher-caste Indian men who often post anonymously while making death threats. When journalist Preetha G. Nair complained online about a misogynistic comment made by a prominent Indian politician last July, many of that politician's political supporters organized a massive campaign against her, including reporting her account to Facebook as being fake (it wasn't) as well as numerous misogynistic comments. Facebook suspended her account citing "community standards" but restored the account on discovering that she had done nothing wrong.

Not l0ng afterward, she was singled out again after she spoke out against another prominent Indian politician. This time, a new Facebook profile appeared which accused her of being a prostitute and ran nasty stories about her, complete with graphic content. Despite numerous complaints to Facebook, the profile remains active as it is not deemed to violate community standards. An independent complaint to local police failed to be investigated.

When journalist Inji Pennu wrote about Preetha Nair's case online, she was subjected to misogynistic harassment herself. This included numerous threats of violence (one user threatened to choke her). On August 4, her Facebook account was suspended, again for violating "community standards". The complaint alleged that she used a fake name in her profile and she was asked to submit a photocopy of her ID to have her account reinstated, something that she was reluctant to do given that it included her home address. Many of the same accounts that heaped abuse on her and Preetha Nair are still active. Though some were suspended, the ones responsible quickly established new profiles and continued with the abuse.

In a blog post written by Inji Pennu, she wrote:

Many of us women are here [on Facebook] to escape from patriarchy forced down upon our throats by marriage, by family, by caste, by religion. We are shunning all this to exist as a human. Yet Facebook is throwing us back into the dark dungeons asking us to stay where we were. Does Facebook think we rightfully belong there?

Though Inji lives in Miami, Florida, she still has links to Kerala, India where many of the targeted women live.

Other women activists who announced their support of Inji and Preetha have come under attack as well. Some have had their accounts suspended following complaints of nudity though most were restored soon afterward. As one woman wrote:

What happens when you complain to Facebook about misogyny and abuse against a woman? The profile of the complainant gets taken down. Inji Pennu's profile is now taken down supposedly for identity verification. Either Facebook is supporting hate mongering and misogyny OR its high time to revise their community standards (Especially for regional language pages) and identity verification practices. I really hope its the latter and they will take action soon!

As a protest against Facebook policies, some women have started a new Facebook page called “Against cyber attacks on women.” This new page has already generated hundreds of likes and is intended to pressure Facebook to become more vigilant in policing misogynistic trolls. Since allegations of sexual conduct can be extremely damaging to women and their families in southern Asia, this kind of harassment has had a chilling effect on women Facebook users.

And the trolls seem to be winning. Despite active pleas to Facebook administrators, including open letters to Mark Zuckerberg himself, many of the trolls at the centre of the abuse still have active accounts. As for the women on the receiving end, they continue to struggle.